1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle traveling state recording method for recording information on traveling states including a traveling speed of an automobile, and also to a computer for engine control thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been proposed to monitor traveling states of a vehicle by a navigator which is mounted in an automobile and performs a route guide or drive support. JP-A-11-281393 discloses that a speed and road information are sequentially accumulated in an IC card as locus data and a driver is warned when an average speed exceeds the speed limit. JP-A-10-19596 discloses that traffic rule information corresponding to each road on a road map is stored in advance and notification is provided to prevent a violation when an operation state of an automobile is detected to predict a traffic rule violation. JP-A-8-110232 discloses that action histories of a mobile unit such as an automobile are recorded on a record medium capable of readout and writing and can be used for proving a traffic violation or a traffic offense later.
It is necessary to comply with the speed limit when an automobile is driven to travel a road. In case that a traveling speed exceeds the speed limit, it may become a target of speed regulation to be arrested as a speed violation. However, if traveling states are monitored by a navigator mounted in a vehicle and a warning is given in case of being in danger of a speed violation, a driver can avoid being arrested by committing the speed violation.
A speed violation in conventional traffic regulation is regulated by “photography by an installed camera”, a method for installing a speed gun commonly called “police trap”, or parallel running by “patrol car” or “police motorcycle”. In any case, the regulation can be performed only at “the limited place or time”. Because of this, the case of being caught by the traffic regulation often depends on luck, or a good driver who does not know information on camera installation is often caught by the traffic regulation. Even when the violation is monitored by a navigator and a warning of the speed violation is given, the regulation is not very performed actually, so that the warning tends to be ignored. On the other hand, once it has become a target of the regulation, even when a speed violation intends to be not committed, an objection cannot be made and the regulation must be accepted without satisfaction. Because of this, the violator tends not to feel deep regret for the speed violation and on the contrary, but to cause the speed violation while escaping the regulation.
JP-A-6-51955U discloses that a data collector is mounted in a vehicle and vehicle related data such as speed or the number of revolutions is recorded and a driver or a traffic regulator of police calls the recorded data and decision materials on whether a violation is caused or not is obtained. JP-A-10-283590 discloses that data communications are conducted between electronic signs installed along a road and a vehicle-mounted terminal device and a decision on a traffic violation is automatically made.
It is widely recognized that the speed limit is necessary for traffic safety and speed regulation is necessary to comply with the speed limit. However, in conventional speed regulation depending on luck in a snipe manner, a vicious driver tends to escape from the regulation and it is necessary to perform the regulation more fairly in a traveling state of the normal case.
Even when record of a traveling speed is kept in the navigator mounted in the vehicle or the data collector is mounted in the vehicle to record the traveling speed, use can be made only in the vehicle in which the device having such a function is mounted. Unless the electronic signs become widespread sufficiently, the idea using the electronic signs is also useful only in the limited places with respect to the vehicle in which the terminal device is mounted and the idea is difficult to become a fair regulation method.